Just an Act
by CanadianChick07
Summary: Instead of Nate talking to Nell last night about her feelings about Eric, this one is about Nate talking to Nell about her feelings for Callen. Nallen.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So when Nate was talking to Nell about her feelings for Eric, I was imagining him talking to her about Callen. And I had to write it... so this is my first stab at a Nell/Callen story. **

**Disclaimer: don't own NCIS or NCIS LA**

"I'm pretty sure you were flirting with me, this morning," Nate studies Nell and asks the question that has been on his mind since Nell had given him a huge hug earlier.

"What? No! That's my welcome back, buddy hug. Standard issue," Nell defends herself. Nate and Nell went way back, to when Nell was a graduate student at Georgetown. She looks at Nate. "And why are you giving me that look?"

Nate gives Nell another look. "Because you're definitely not flirting with me now, now that we're alone."

Nell raises her eyebrow. "You think that had to do something with Eric?" She glances over at Nate, who's just smiling like a smug cat. "That's hilarious, actually."

"Nell, I get paid to read people. But it's not Eric. It's Callen."

Nell's jaw dropped open. Sure a twelve year old could see the flirting between her and Eric, but she more had feelings for Callen. Besides, she'd never date Eric. "What?"

"I saw the way you looked at him earlier. And the way he looked at you. Is there something going on between you two?"

"I think you've been gone a little too long, my friend," Nell stands up. "Callen? Really? Callen. Nope, no way." She makes exaggerated hand gestures, to try and get the point across to Nate.

"You can run, but I'm already inside your little head Nell."

Later that day, as Eric and Nell are making their way down the stairs, she's telling Eric she has no plans, ever, or for the foreseeable future. Except for monster truck rally's. However, it's not for Eric she's telling it to, it's for Callen's sake, because he's within hearing distance. She gives him a look over to Callen.

"Monster truck rally?" Callen asks Hetty. He can see Kensi at one, but Nell? No way. Nope. Nada. But there was something to Nell Jones that piqued his interest.

* * *

Nell's having car troubles the next morning. She's no mechanic but she thinks it's the starter. _Just my luck,_ she thinks. She decides to give Kensi a call and see if she can give her a ride. But no dice. Kensi was already at the office, having picked up Deeks. However, Kensi did point out the fact that Callen wasn't in, but Sam was, so her told Nell to call Callen, and they lived in the same part of the city.

"Callen, it's Nell," she says nervously when he picks up. "I'm having car troubles, do you think you can swing by and pick me up?"

"Absolutely. Give me ten," Callen replies. Nell hangs up and sighs. She's greatful for the team being so close, but she's nervous about being in the same car as Callen all the way to work. She hopes her feelings don't show.

After Callen picks her up, he's trying to think of how to ask her a question. He's not even sure she's interested in him, because it seems like she really likes Eric. But he sees the glances she gives him, and the glance she gave him last night.

"So, no plans for the foreseeable future?" Callen finally asks.

Nell laughs nervously. "Well… besides work and maybe a mani/pedi with Kensi next week, no."

"So do you have time do go for dinner with me on Friday?" Callen gets it out. He finally did it. He looked over at Nell, and she's pretty shocked.

Actually, Nell is speechless. "Um…yeah. I mean… sure! I'd love to."

Callen flashes her a smile and she does the same and relaxes a little. "Good. I'll pick you up at eight." Nell just couldn't believe Callen asked her to go for dinner. She thought she did a good job at hiding her feelings for the senior agent, by flirting with Eric, but obviously not. Not that she minded. She was going on a date with Callen!


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Okay, I have to admit, I haven't really written "fluff" so here's my attempt at it. I wasn't sure I was going to have time to write anything until *gasp* Tuesday, but a little thing called a snow storm cancelled my impending plans, leaving me time to write (yes, for those wonder who the heck would have a snow storm in friggin April... I live in Canada aka the Artic) I have final exams for college next week, so this might be my last update until later next week.  
**

**AND I did include something with Nate. I almost screamed when I saw Nate the other night. I am going to try and go deeper into Nate and Nell's mysterious background.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or NCIS: LA**. **If I did, Densi and Nallen would be happening :)  
Happy reading, and thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

Nell stands in the middle of her bedroom and looks in her closet, hopeless. She has tried on outfit after outfit. Those outfits had landed on the floor and on the bed and now Nell's room was taking shape of looking like somewhat of Kensi's room. She sighs again. "Why can't I find an outfit?" She says in exasperation, to herself. Her hands are on her hips and she continues to stare into the deep dark depths of the closet. Nope, nothing was catching her eye. She's going on a date with Callen, for goodness sakes!

She's into about minute 8 of staring into her closet, hoping the closet would take human form and hand her the perfect outfit. But she knows that isn't going to happen within her lifetime, so she calls one of her only friends. After all, that's what friends do? Help each other get ready for dates? Nell remembers helping her friends get ready for dates, back in her college days.

"Hey Nell, what's up?" Kensi asks when she answers her phone. Nell can hear unmistakeable laugh of Deeks.

"Uh, are you busy?"

Kensi laughs. "Just with Deeks right now. But he's disposable. What's up?"

Nells sighs. "Trying to get to get for a date. And nothing is working. I mean nothing. It's pissing me off."

"Hold on, girlfriend. I'll be there in twenty." With that, Nell feels much more ease, knowing she wasn't going to be alone on trying to figure out an outfit that's her, but not way out there, and that will shock the hell out of Callen.

Thirty minutes later, success was achieved. Nell had a pair of dark washed jeans on and a dark tank top with rose and red flowers on it, which screamed her and she had forgot about. Kensi was just about to leave, but she stood in the doorway. "Nell, who are you going on a date with?"

Nell smiles slyly. "Somebody."

Kensi raises her eyebrows. "I'll let you off this time, only if you promise to tell me everything about it. One of us has to have some luck in the dating department."

Nell laughs. "I'll tell you everything," Nell promised and Kensi departed through the door. Nell checked the time. 7 30. She had done her makeup while waiting for Kensi, so there was nothing to do, except over analyze the date with Callen.

Callen's on his way to Nell's house to pick her up. To be truthful, he's probably more nervous than she is. He hasn't been on a date in a… long time. He had a rule about not dating people who wore a shield and carried a gun for a living. However, Nell Jones, is not a NCIS Special Agent. But she does know how to use a gun, and that's downright sexy to Callen.

It's a little "weird" after Callen picks up Nell. After all, he's never been on a date with a co-worker before but Nell looked absolutely gorgeous. Not that she doesn't look good every day. Callen wonders out loud. "Who's idea was it to go to the monster truck rally?" Again, he can see Kensi at one, Nell on the other hand, not so much.

Nell laughs. "Mine."

"Huh."

"Huh? What?" Nell asks.

Callen looks over at her. "I just didn't see you as a monster truck type of girl."

"Actually, I have a slight obsession with hockey."

"You, Nell Jones, watch guys on ice, chase around a puck?"

She smiles lightly. The 'ice' was cracked and now Callen was just teasing her, like she expected him to do. "Yes, Callen, I do."

"So who's your favorite team?" Callen knows basketball, but not hockey. Him and Sam have gone to a couple Kings' games, but he didn't know much.

Nell laughed. "Growing up it was the Penguins. Kind of had a little bit of a crush on Mario Lemieux. When I moved to LA, I switched my allegiances to the Kings."

"So did you have a fan girl crush on him and go gaga whenever you heard his name?" Callen asks, grinning at the red headed pixie, seated in his passenger seat. Boy, was she looking cuter and cuter every second. He wouldn't have thought Nell as a fan girl type, but everybody has their "different" sides to them that nobody would have expected. That was Nell's.

"No."

Callen laughs. "Yeah right. You were, weren't you?"

"No!" Nell argues, and she's getting redder and redder and she knows the truth. She was a little fan girl when it came to Mario Lemieux.

Callen laughs again and he has a wide smile on his face. "Yeah, thought so."

She mock glares at him and changes the subject to the latest case. They had just managed to unwrap a terrorists plot to blow up the God forbid, the Staples Center, where the Los Angeles Kings called home. And thankfully, they had wrapped up the case before the weekend, leaving Callen and Nell with an unusually, free Friday night.

They are seated at the restaurant when Callen brings up Nell's infatuation with the Pittsburgh Penguins again. "So why the Pens?"

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" She looks into his blue eyes.

He shakes his head. "Smart girl. No, I'm not. I promise you're fan girl crush on Lemieux is safe with me, but I am really curious, why the Pens? Did you grow up near Pittsburgh?"

Nell is saved by the waiter bringing them their salads, for their appetizer. After, she looks Callen in the eye and his face says he's still expecting an answer. So she lifts an eyebrow in return. "Have you not looked at my personnel file?" She has expected him to, because it's Callen and he would wanted to know who's he working with.

Callen shakes his head. "No. Have you looked at mine?"

"No."

"So this is better first date material. We actually get to have a conversation about our lives, and it's not a cover story," Callen says.

Nell eyes him. What he has just said makes sense, but she didn't expect that to be coming out of Callen's mouth. But she also knows more of this conversation will be about her, than him. Because she did know that Callen had lived in 37 different foster homes and didn't know his family, and on the other hand; Nell had a huge family. "Okay. I'll go first. I actually grew up in Houston."

Callen wants to laugh. Really hard. Because he didn't expect that. Nell? Houston, Texas? She didn't have an accent at all and he would have never have guessed that's where she grew up. "Houston, Nell?"

She's smiling. "I grew up in Boise, Idaho."

Ha, she had been fooling with him. He certainly didn't expect that out of Nell Jones. The more he talked with her, the more he wanted to get to know her. And her little mind tricks, like telling him she grew up in Houston, were good. "I'm still not sure if I believe that one. You don't seem?"

"Mid-western?" Nells supplies for him. It's not the first time she's heard it, either. And she does agree, she doesn't seem like the type to grow up in Idaho, of all places.

"Yeah. You seem more… Eastern?"

Nell laughs and takes a bite of her Caesar salad. "I did my undergrad at Princeton."

This time it's Callen's turn to raise an eyebrow. That he believes, because someone with smarts like that would go for an Ivy-league education. But he had one question about that. "How does a girl from Boise, Idaho go to an Ivy-league school like Princeton?"

Nell bites the inside of her lip from spilling the entire story. "Agent Callen, do you really think I am going to just share that story right now?"

"Interesting?"

"That might be some people's definition of it. Not mine, however."

Callen leans across the table and takes Nell's hand. "Then I am intrigued, Miss Jones."

* * *

Nate is just coming back from having seen a movie with a friend he hadn't seen awhile. One of the very, very, very few friends he had outside the agency that still came to see him, despite the random appearances in Los Angeles. Caelyn Braun was just about as much as of oxymoron as Ms. Abigail Scuito and her happy goth thing she had down pat. Actually, Nate had met Caelyn through none other than Hetty Lange. He wasn't sure how Caelyn knew the Duchess of Deception, but when Caelyn had walked through his door at NCIS, he was taken aback by the 25 year old, bleach blonde, German beauty. He had described Caelyn's issues as "major league personal demons." Caelyn could give Kensi and Callen a run for their money on terms of what was going on inside of her head.

His second call after Hetty, to let her know he was back in town and working on the FBI Task Force, was to Caelyn. After seeing the movie, Caelyn had gone off to see one of her friends, and Nate was walking back to his car when he happened to look by a window in a restaurant.

And to his surprise, okay not surprise, was none other than Special Agent G Callen and Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones. _Score, _Nate thought. Definitely score for him on predicting that relationship. A lot of people had questioned Hetty's reasoning for bringing in the recent college graduate, but obviously Hetty saw something and that was a buddy relationship between Callen and Nell.

Nate didn't stand staring long, he quickly walked past to his car, but he couldn't help thinking about Callen and Nell. His "agent" brain had turned off from being around Caelyn, and his "psychologist" brain was back on. He did think Callen and Nell were a good couple. Nell could help Callen loosen up a little and she had a way of warming up people's hearts, even Nate's. Nell's infectious attitude was good to have around the team, because often they were too serious and wrapped up in a case. Not that Nell couldn't get down to work, because she was one of the best; she just saw things a different way. And Callen could help Nell become the woman she could be- intelligence, street smart and still maintain that bubbly personality. Nate approved.


End file.
